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2 gibbons find new home at national park
The Javanese Gibbon Center released two Javanese Gibbons in Mount Gede Pangrango National Park, Bogor, West Java, over the weekend in the hope that the gibbons would reproduce in the wild
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he Javanese Gibbon Center released two Javanese Gibbons in Mount Gede Pangrango National Park, Bogor, West Java, over the weekend in the hope that the gibbons would reproduce in the wild.
Head of the national park, Sumarto, said that the male gibbon, Septa, and female, Echi, both aged 10 years, would stay in the Patiwel forest in the Bodogol area of the national park for three to four years.
"We hope they will have a baby gibbon in the next few years," Sumarto said.
Along with the release of the two gibbons, Sumarto said, his officers have also replanted 40 hectares of forest.
"In the next three years, the gibbon family will need at least 17.5 hectares of forested area to roam for food," he said.
He added that his officers had over the last two years been educating and imploring local people to help protect the gibbons from poachers.
"We've involved farmers working near the park to help monitor the safety of the gibbons," he said.
Around 500,000 locals inhabit the national park, clustered in 66 villages across the park.
The national park has 15.156 hectares of pristine forest and 7,650 hectares undergoing reforestation programs.
Executive chairman of the Javanese Gibbon Center, Noviar Andayani, said there are only 5,000 Javanese gibbons left on the island.
Aside from those found in Mount Gede Pangrango National Park, there are small populations in Ujung Kulon National Park, Mount Halimun Salak National Park and in several forests in Central Java, Noviar said, citing data collected by the Indonesian Association of Primate Experts and Lovers (Perhapi) and the research and development unit of the Forestry Ministry.
The Javanese Gibbon Center is currently home to 12 pairs of the endangered species.
Noviar said that poaching is the biggest threat facing the survival of the Javanese gibbons.
Director-General of Forest Protection and Natural Resources Conservation with the Ministry of Forestry, Darori, said that the Javanese gibbon needs areas of dense forest for their habitat.
